1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved removable tile spacer for ensuring proper placement and spacing of ceramic tiles and other tiles requiring grout during a tile installation project.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ceramic tiles and other types of tiles, such as slate, quarry tiles, and pavers are placed individually and require grout between individual tiles. Such tiles are supplied in uniform, incremental pieces that are fitted together with interstitial spaces therebetween to create a finished tile surface. In setting the tiles on an underlayment it is extremely important in a professional installation for the individual tiles to be uniformly spaced from each other. Failure to properly space the tiles results in a tile surface in which the individual tiles are located at irregular intervals. Not only is this aesthetically unacceptable, but irregularities in tile spacing create significant difficulties for the installer in fitting tiles against abutments, such as wall surfaces, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, counter edges, and other demarcations at which the tile installation is terminated.
The vast majority of tiles that are utilized commercially are substantially flat and have a rectangular configuration, usually square in shape. To achieve proper tile spacing small, inexpensive, disposable tile spacers are often employed. Conventional tile spacers for square and other rectangular tiles are constructed with a flat, cruciform shape or sometimes with a T-shape and are positioned at the corners of the intersections of adjacent tiles. The legs of these conventional tile spacers have a uniform width equal to the desired width of spacing between adjacent tiles. To utilize these devices the tile installer places the tile spacers at the outside corners of each tile once the tile is positioned and pressed against an adhesive coating on an underlayment surface. The next adjacent tiles to be laid are positioned against the spacers. Work proceeds until all of the tiles have been secured to the floor, wall, counter, or other surface to be tiled.
While conventional tile spacers of this type do allow a tile installer to achieve uniform spacing between adjacent tiles, at least one significant problem has persisted in their use. One very big problem with conventional spacers of this type is that they are difficult to remove prior to filling the gaps between the tiles with grout. In conventional practice a tile installer will utilize a screwdriver or some other narrow, lever type instrument to attempt to pry out the spacers from between the tiles. However, the use of such levers and other implements often results in chipping of the tiles.
Some installers simply leave the spacers in position and cover them over with grout. However, the grout does not adhere to the spacers and over time the absence of a proper bond between the grout and the spacers causes the grout to crumble and break out at the locations of the tile spacers that have been left in between the tiles.
A number of different tile spacers have been designed with handles that are shaped in the form of a post extending perpendicularly out from the intersection of the several arms of the spacer. Some different embodiments of tile spacers of this type are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,793,068 and 5,359,783 and in U.S. Publication No. US 2002/0121027. The purpose of this handle is to facilitate removable of the tile spacers from between adjacent tiles. However, since the handles of tile spacers of this type project straight out from the bodies of the tile spacers at the intersections of the arms thereof, the handles present an obstruction to leveling of tiles.
That is, even when utilizing tile spacers to complete a tile surface in a professional, workmanship-like manner, a tile installer will invariably employ a straight edge or a level of some type to align the edges of adjacent tiles in a precise, rectilinear array. However, a straight edge or level cannot be utilized with conventional tile spacers having posts projecting straight out from the intersection of the tile spacer legs since such posts obstruct the proper alignment and positioning of the straight edge or level.
One primary objective the present invention is to provide a tile spacer that will not obstruct placement of a straight edge in aligning adjacent tiles during a tile installation project, but which still can be removed from between adjacent tiles quite easily. To achieve this objective the tile spacer of the invention is provided with a built-in handle that extends at an obtuse angle out from the main body of the tile. Furthermore, the junction between the handle and the legs of the tile spacer is not at the intersection of the tile spacer legs, as in conventional tile spacers. To the contrary, the handle of the tile spacer intersects only a single one of the legs at a junction that is spaced from the intersection of the tile spacer legs. As a consequence, the tile spacer handle does not present an obstruction to the use of a straight edge or level during a tile installation project.
In one broad aspect the present invention may be described as a removable tile spacer formed with a body having a plurality of legs with lower surfaces residing in a common plane and diverging from each other at right angles and a handle projecting outwardly from a single one of the legs inclined away from the body an obtuse angle relative to the common plane. That is, the handle must form an angle greater than ninety degrees and less than one hundred eighty degrees with the lower surface of the tile spacer leg from which it projects.
As a practical matter, the handle should form an angle of between about one hundred twenty degrees and about one hundred fifty degrees relative to the selected one of the legs from which it projects. In the preferred embodiments the handle forms an angle of about one hundred thirty-five degrees relative to the leg from which it extends and relative to the common plane of the lower surfaces of all of the legs forming the tile spacer body. The handle is preferably attached to the selected leg at the distal end thereof, remote from the intersection of the several legs of the tile spacer.
Preferably the legs of the tile spacer of the invention are of equal length and each leg has a thickness equal to its width. Also, it may be desirable to provide the handle with some surface irregularity to facilitate gripping the handle to pull it out from between adjacent tiles. For example, the handle of the tile spacer of the invention may be constructed with one or more raised ribs that extend transversely across the upper, inclined surface of the handle.
In another broad aspect the invention may be described as a removable tile spacer comprising a main body having a plurality of legs having undersurfaces lying in a common plane and diverging from each other from a central, common intersection at ninety degree intervals, and a handle projecting out from a junction with a selected one of the legs remote from the central common intersection and forming an obtuse angle relative to the common plane at the selected leg from which it projects.
The invention may also be described as an improvement in a flat, removable tile spacer having a plurality of legs radiating from a central, common intersection and spaced apart at ninety degree intervals. The improvement of the invention is comprised of a handle projecting outwardly and upwardly from one of the legs at a junction therewith remote from the common intersection. Preferably, the legs reside in coplanar relationship and the handle is inclined at an angle of about one hundred thirty-five degrees from the one of the legs from which it projects.
The invention may be described with greater clarity and particularity by reference to the accompanying drawings.